PHILADELPHIA – Wild cheers rained onto the court as Thaddeus Young's corner 3 tied the game with about 7½ minutes to play, but the 76ers were unable to retake the lead as the longest losing streak in franchise history inched ever closer to NBA infamy.

"It's tough, especially when you're right there, to tie or take a lead and you can't close it out," Sixers guard Tony Wroten said. "It was right there."

D.J. Augustin came off the bench to score 20 points and reserve Taj Gibson had 19 points and 13 rebounds as the Chicago Bulls defeated the Sixers 102-94 on Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center, sending Philadelphia to its 22nd consecutive defeat. The NBA record is 26 losses in a row by the Cleveland Cavaliers during the 2010-11 season.

The Sixers (15-53) have also lost 32 of their last 35 overall and 17 consecutive games at home, just two shy of the Dallas Mavericks' record of 19 straight home losses during the 1993-94 season.

"They're a good team. Just because of their losing streak, they're still a good team," Augustin said. "They came out tonight firing shots and in the fourth quarter they were making them. … We knew it would be this type of game. The last couple teams they played were close games, so we knew it would be this type of game. We just tried to fight them to the end, and it was a fight. It was a real fight."

Young scored a game-high 24 points to lead Philadelphia. Wroten had 17 points, six rebounds and seven assists after drawing his second consecutive start at shooting guard in place of James Anderson, who is nursing a right quad contusion. Michael Carter-Williams finished with 16 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

Deep reserve Byron Mullens scored 12 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter as the announced crowd of 13,222 celebrated wildly down the stretch. He hit two 3s to pull the Sixers within a single point, at 81-80 with about nine minutes to play, and he followed those shots by lunging to save the ball from going out of bounds. It winded up in Henry Sims' hands for a layup, despite being fouled, but he missed a free throw that would have tied the game with 8½ minutes remaining.

Young's long-range baseline jumper tied the score at 85-all with about 7½ minutes to go, but Butler and Augustin hit consecutive 3s as the Bulls scored the next six points. Chicago led the rest of the way.

"It's tough. We've got a lot of new guys, including me, on the team," said Mullens, who had a migraine and was nauseous at the start of the game. "We're real young. So we're just trying to get together, learning each other. It's going to come together, we've just got to be patient."

Chicago owned a 52-45 advantage at halftime and led by as many as 11 points.

Sims missed his first seven shots, but hit a layup for his first bucket to trim Philadelphia's deficit to 64-63 with about five minutes remaining in the third quarter. The Sixers closed the frame by hitting just 1 of 7 shots and committing three turnovers.

The Sixers shot 45.7 percent from the field (37 of 81), while the Bulls shot 43.4 percent (36 of 83), but Philadelphia hit just 9 of 19 free throw attempts and Chicago hit 22 of 27.

"This is where you end up," Sixers coach Brett Brown said. "There is just no inch for error. There is no wiggle room at all. … The free throws I think ended up hurting us."